Shakespeare's Plays.

My mind is quite blank today and I have no literal idea how I should express my opinion of Shakespeare’s plays. I mean there are two main things that I find myself completely and utterly fascinated by. Number one – That there are multiple theories about Shakespeare’s work and that he may not be the honest author of his plays. Number two- He had a strong ability to analyse the society. This being exhibited in a number of his plays.

Lets start with number one. Yes I do realise, in my previous blog, I completely bad mouthed Shakespeare and his role in Elizabethan theatre, but hey, that isn’t entirely my fault, I guess I didn’t find myself drawn in to Elizabethan theatre. I wont deny, yes, it may be an interesting time for some, but as you could see, it wasn’t oh-so-amazing at all. EVERYONE knows Shakespeare’s plays from small primary children to the elderly. He’s one of the most famous and legendary English playwrights in the history of literature. He is the epitome of all things literature.  

There have been many conspiracy theories that state that Shakespeare wasn’t the author of his plays, although this might be true as he didn’t have a proper education and still, little is known about him, in my opinion I believe that Shakespeare was the true author of his playwrights and poems.  Honestly, if it weren’t Shakespeare who wrote the plays, why would he be so famous to this day and age? And why would high school students be forced to study a range of his famous plays, like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet or even Macbeth?  People have the audacity to believe that because Shakespeare didn’t receive a University degree and that he endured a lack of education, that he couldn’t have the ability to write all his world famous plays. Well, what do my fellow bloggers think? Do you believe that you need to have a University degree to be an accredited writer? There are multiple people who have a University degree and haven’t even attempted to write a story and to think that Shakespeare wasn’t the true writer of his OWN work. I won’t deny, the way that Shakespeare wrote his plays perplexes me, and I find it quite perculiar, but I mean the way he wrote described exactly how society was divided during his lifetime, and yes, I find most of his work quite boring and vain. However during his lifetime people could relate to his plays because –

1.     The poor were striving for attention (well at least I think so anyway).

2.     There was a strict hierarchy implemented.

3.     Women were viewed as superior to men, however in Shakespeare’s plays, women had respected roles, and this exhibits exactly how women wanted to be viewed.

Therefore, I believe that although his work may seem completely and utterly boring, the old English society found themselves entertained by his plays and this is why, William Shakespeare, is still famous for his work today.

Let me continue with my second fascination. My fellow bloggers, I shall save you the trouble of having to go back to the top to remember my second fascination by just telling you. “Shakespeare had a refined ability to analyse society”, as I mentioned above women were viewed as subservient to men during Shakespeare’s lifetime. In his plays however, Macbeth as an example, the main source of power and persuasiveness comes from Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to commit all the evil deeds and this is due to the fact that she had a certain ambition to become Queen and have all the power. This exhibits how women during this time period strived for power. The murderers in Macbeth are also another example of how the less fortunate were viewed. In one of the acts when Macbeth sends the two murderers to murder Banquo, the murderers obey him straight away although they know that Banquo was a dear friend of Macbeth.  

To conclude, yes, I do not deny that Shakespeare’s plays are vain and boring, however he observed the society carefully and incorporated his observations in his plays in order for his audience to be able to relate to his plays. And I also find it quite absurd, that people have the audacity to doubt one of the worlds most famous playwrights work.